Paying More for Less: Poverty's Food Landscape

Distance to shops, thin fruit and vegetable ranges and homes without a freezer mean households on the tightest budgets pay more per portion, and housing providers can influence the food landscape around an estate. 

 At a Glance 

• The food landscape around an estate, including the range in local shops, transport, storage and cooking facilities and locked community kitchens, makes eating well cost more for households on the tightest budgets, and housing providers can change several of its elements. 

• Food Ladders, a framework developed at the University of Sheffield, describes three rungs of support: crisis relief, capacity building for households that are coping but precarious, and community-led projects. Capacity building is the rung that prevents crisis, and it is the one with least provision. 

• Councils deliver the Crisis and Resilience Fund, which combines preventative support with help in a financial crisis, so the local council is the first point of contact for housing providers who want to pool resources rather than start new schemes. 

On one Sheffield estate, the lifts stop at alternate floors, so residents rarely meet neighbours on other levels. The community room has a kitchen, but it is kept locked and opened by a gatekeeper because some users did not look after it, and the space sits empty. Wide lawns separate the blocks and cannot be used for play. The nearest shops, including a small supermarket with a shelf or two of fruit and vegetables, stand at the edge of the estate. For an older resident that means a lift that may not be working, a long walk across open ground and a heavy load home. Residents who do not know their neighbours can also find the journey less secure. Together these make up the food landscape: the transport, shops and social infrastructure that determine what food reaches a household. 

Equipment and cost add to the distance. Some social housing tenants cannot afford a gas standing charge, and some homes come without a cooker, leaving a kettle and perhaps a microwave. Many small flats have no freezer, so nothing can be cooked in advance and kept. Buying in bulk is cheaper per portion, but a larger pack that costs more than the household has to hand is out of reach, and smaller packs cost more per portion. A bag of flour bought for one meal then takes up cupboard space that is already short. Households under this pressure buy what is cheap, quick and easy to carry, which is often less healthy, and food comes to be treated as fuel. The stress of finding food, and of feeding others, is compounded by isolation, because there is no money left for eating with other people. 

Food Ladders, developed by Dr Megan Blake at the University of Sheffield, organises support in three rungs.

• The first is crisis support for people without enough to eat now.

• The second, capacity building, is for households that have enough this week but could tip into crisis after one setback: food clubs that stretch a budget, help with cooking and benefits, and shared meals that introduce new foods without risk and build links between neighbours.

• The third is self-organised transformation, in which residents decide what would improve their area, whether an allotment on unused grass or a craft session.

The side rails of the ladder are the local authority, the local food partnership and housing associations, which give the structure, step in directly at the bottom and assist higher up when asked. The approach starts from what residents already have and need, rather than requiring households to demonstrate failure before help is offered. A Food Ladders overview and a toolkit for local authorities and local food networks are published by the University of Sheffield researcher. 

Food is also an entry point. A food club, a meal or a barbecue brings residents through the door, and conversation follows. Those events can carry health information, such as hearing tests and blood pressure checks, and advice on benefits residents may not know they can claim. The interventions are modest: a community coordinator, a small discretionary budget and a space that is not locked. Local authorities and food networks already run provision in many areas, and one of the most useful contributions a landlord can make is a room for an existing organisation to host a food bank or food club. 

Food insecurity has eased from its recent high but remains widespread. The Food Standards Agency's Food and You 2 survey found 25% of adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland food insecure between October 2022 and January 2023, and the latest wave found 21% in summer 2025. Around nine in ten food purchases for eating at home in the UK are made in supermarkets, a far higher share than in countries where markets and street vendors remain part of everyday food buying, and climate pressure on crops adds risk to prices. 

Housing providers hold the keys to many of the places where communities could meet, and some of those places are locked. 

Practical steps for housing providers 

Contact the local council, starting with the public health team, to find out how the Crisis and Resilience Fund is being used locally and whether resources can be pooled. 

Find out what already exists before building anything. Sustainable Food Places lists local food partnerships by nation, and a new food club a street away from a running one adds little. 

Walk the estates and note which community rooms, kitchens and open spaces are locked, who holds the keys and who would use them if they felt ownership. 

Offer space to an organisation that already runs food provision, rather than setting up a new service. 

For larger estates, consider funding a community coordinator to connect residents with local food activity, the council and advice services. 

Use food events to share health and benefits information, such as blood pressure checks, hearing tests and benefits advice. 

Review the kitchen facilities homes provide, including a cooker and somewhere to store food. 

Host: Jenny Danson, CEO and Co-Founder, Healthy Homes Hub 

Guest: Dr Megan Blake, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield